The Japanese Photobook, 1912 – 1990, published by Steidl and edited by Manfred Heiting, illustrates the development of photography as seen in photo publications in Japan—from the time of influence of European and American pictorialism, the German Bauhaus and Imperial military propaganda, to the complete collapse and destruction of the country in 1945. Then followed a new beginning: with the unique self-determination of a young generation of photographers and visual artists highlighted by the “Provoke” style as well as protest and war documentation of the late 1950s to the early ’70s, the signature Japanese photobook, as we have come to know it, was born. With detailed information and illustrations of over 400 photo publications, an introduction by Kaneko Ryuichi and essays by Jo Takeba, Yuri Mitsuda, Mari Shirayama, Satomi Fujimura, Kotaro Lizawa, Duncan Forbes, this is the first extensive English-language survey of Japanese photobooks of this period.
Manfred Heiting is a designer and editor of photo publications and a collector of photobooks focusing on the period between 1886 and 1980. He has designed and edited extensive surveys of German, Soviet and Japanese photobooks. Heiting is currently working on surveys of Czech and Dutch photobooks.
Kaneko Ryuichi is the leading historian of Japanese photobooks. As the former curator at the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, he oversaw the development of the institution’s collection. Over the past 45 years Kaneko has amassed a formidable private collection of more than twenty thousand volumes, magazines and catalogues. As a scholar, he has been an important advocate in supporting the scholarship and study of Japanese photography and photobooks.
The Japanese Photobook, 1912 – 1990
Edited by Manfred Heiting
Introduction by Ryuichi Kaneko
Texts by Jo Takeba, Yuri Mitsuda, Mari Shirayama, Satomi Fujimura, Kotaro Lizawa, Duncan Forbes
576 pages – 3500 color images
US$ 145.00 / € 125.00
